So. The cookbook. Amazingly enough, I’m working on the last chapter of Parents Need to Eat Too (woot!). It’s called “Lunchtime Pumping & Last-Minute Dinners: Recipes for WOHMs.” (If you’re a WOHM I’m pretty sure you’ll recognize that acronym, but just in case: Work Outside the Home Mom.) I work, but from an oh-so-luxurious home office (um, that was sarcastic, the bit about luxury)—I haven’t had to deal with commutes or finding the time and privacy to pump, or any of the other challenges I know so many of you face. Which is why I’d like this chapter to be a little different. I’d like to include your voice here! To explain a bit more:
If you’ve got an infant and work outside the home, I’d like to hear your best tips on all of it:
- How to handle the juggling
- How to fit pumping into your work day
- How to make the most of your commute
- How to find work clothes that fit your new body without spending a ton
- Anything else you’ve dealt with that I haven’t thought of because I’m not a WOHM
Plus specific thoughts on food and eating:
- What the heck do you do about breakfast? Eat at work?
- What are your go-to brown bag lunches?
- How do you eat while pumping? Are there any foods that just don’t work while you’re hooked up to the machine? (Personally, I found it hard to eat anything that involved silverware. But that may just be me.)
- What are your easiest, most reliable dinner tricks?
- How do you work with your childcare provider when it comes to your baby’s feeding/eating?
And (drum roll please) I’d love for you to share your weeknight recipes, with an introduction explaining why they work for you. The most simple-yet-still-exciting ones will be included in the book! You’d get full credit, of course, as well as a signed copy of the finished book. Please submit recipes that are your own, or if they’re not, please be explicit about their origins—I don’t want to accidentally plagiarize from Paula Deen, kwim?
So. There you have it: your chance to be part of a cookbook that will, hopefully, help new moms (and dads) get a handle on their crazy, upside-down, wonderful new life.
Send me your thoughts at parentsneedtoeattoo at gmail. Thanks! I love my readers.
And hey, check out that amazing illustration up there! It’s by my friend Annie Dwyer Internicola, who does super-cool stuff. The illustration itself originally appeared in Chronogram magazine, accompanying an article about (surprise, surprise) dealing with our busy, busy, BUSY lives. The magazine graciously gave permission for me to use it here.